In this guide, I’ll explain how to install and configure a L4D server on CentOS 7.
Installing Left 4 Dead
Before we get started, we have to make sure that the system is up-to-date and secure. We’ll also need to create a new user for the server. When prompted, specify a strong, secure password for this user.
yum update
yum upgrade -y
adduser l4d
passwd l4d
The necessary firewall ports required by Left 4 Dead have to be opened, so let us do that before we move on.
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=27015/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=27015/udp --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload
The required system libraries needed to run SteamCMD have to be installed.
yum install glibc.i686 libstdc++.i686 -y
Switch to the user account that we created earlier.
su l4d
cd ~
Download the SteamCMD software.
wget https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/client/installer/steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
tar xf steamcmd_linux.tar.gz
Up next, we have to use SteamCMD to install the game server files.
./steamcmd.sh +login anonymous +force_install_dir ./l4d +app_update 222840 validate +quit
When the screen reads Success! App '222840' fully installed., the server has been installed.
Customizing the server
Server customization is done by editing the server.cfg file.
nano ~/l4d/left4dead/cfg/server.cfg
Populate server.cfg with the following text. Be sure to change ServerName and RconPassword to your desired server name and rcon password (server admin).
hostname "ServerName"
rcon_password RconPassword
Updating your server
Create the file update_l4d.txt in the users home directory.
nano /home/l4d/update_l4d.txt
Populate that file with the following contents.
login anonymous
force_install_dir ./l4d
app_update 222840
quit
Update your server any time by running the following command.
cd ~ && ./steamcmd.sh +runscript update_l4d.txt
Running your server
To start your server, run the following commands.
cd /home/l4d/l4d/
screen -dmS l4d ./srcds_run -console -game left4dead -port 27015 +map l4d_farm04_barn +maxplayers 4 +exec server.cfg
The server is now running in a background screen session.
To shut down the server, run the following command.
screen -S l4d -X quit
Enjoy your new Left 4 Dead server!